In the sport of golf, golf clubs are employed to hit a golf ball around the various portions of the course. As a general rule golf clubs fall into three broad categories including woods, irons, and the putter. Woods have club heads formed of wood and/or metal and are designed for striking and propelling the ball long distances down the fairway portion of the golf course. Irons are the clubs employed by golfers for medium distance driving of the ball.
In a conventional set of clubs including such woods and irons, various clubs are designed with a face of the club head to yield differing loft characteristics on ball impact. When the ball is struck generally straight on by the club face, the face angle creates a loft making the golf ball leave the ground on an ascending trajectory. This alleviates the need to swing the club upward to loft the ball.
However, upon placing the ball adjacent to or on the green with a wood or iron, a softer touch is needed by a golfer to sink the ball into the hole. For this purpose, putters are employed to putt the ball into the hole. Unlike woods and irons, putters are employed for a relatively soft contact with the golf ball to roll the ball short distances upon the green surrounding the hole. The putting portion of the game can be especially vexing to golfers since the ball must be accurately driven on the green, taking into consideration the slant of the green and many other variables.
Since during a putt the ball is intended to roll on the grass forming the green rather than to leave it, putters have a very low loft and often a short shaft. The result is a club that is designed to “push” and roll the ball rather than to elevate it upward into the air for long distances. While generally employed for play on the green, putters may on occasion be useful for playing some approach shots on courses with tightly mown fringe and fairways.
There are a number of different styles of putters. Popular head styles include those that are mallet-shaped or blade-shaped; however, many others exist. A mallet putter generally speaking has a large, rounded putter head and is weighted to be balanced throughout the club to provide the user with a more consistent putting stroke. A blade style putter in many popular versions is narrow and flat in order to give the user a tactile sensation or “feel” to the hands when employing the putter.
The head itself may be weighted at the perimeter or have weights adapted for insertion in the head. Perimeter-weighted and toe-weighted putters are considered by many to produce a more forgiving stroke, as the weight is distributed to yield a larger sweet spot on the club face. An insert configured putter head has composite inserts in the head made of a softer material than the rest of the head. The insert is in the face of the putter, sharply defining the sweet spot yielding a smoother roll.
However, most putters of either design have an engagement of the shaft of the club to the hosel engaging the head in a position and attachment mode at the heel end which causes unwanted torque or twisting of the head at the moment of impact with the ball. Additionally, many such shaft and hosel engagements marginalize the feel or tactile sensation of the strike on the ball communicated to the hands of the user gripping the shaft.
Putters with a shaft engaged to a hosel engaging the heel of the head yield a clear view of the ball being struck, but increase the torque on the shaft. This tends to rotate the shaft in the hands of the user even when struck at the head center. Putters having a shaft engaged to a hosel engaging the center portion of the club head, or just a shaft engaging the center of the head, reduce the torque communicated to the shaft upon striking the ball. However, in such an engagement, the shaft can block the view of the ball since it runs through the center of the club. In center mounted heads struck off center, or heel mounted heads even struck on center, the torque generated and resulting twisting tend to rotate the engaged shaft and can easily misdirect the ball along the wrong trajectory from that intended.
Other conventional engagements of the shaft to a hosel engage the distal end of the hosel directly into the head portion of the club either at the heel of the head or into the top central portion of the head. This engagement, while easy to manufacture, engages the hosel at a top or side edge of the head. Thus desired central point of impact of the ball on the head is distanced from the engagement point of the distal end of the hosel thereby dampening the feel of such an impact being transmitted through the club shaft to the user gripping the shaft.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for a golf putter which provides a shaft engagement or a shaft and hosel engagement to the club head, which provides a means to eliminate or at least minimize the potential for twisting of the shaft upon impact of the center of the face of the head with the ball. Such a putter should provide the uninhibited viewing of the ball that a heel positioning of the shaft and hosel engagement yields, and concurrently produce the minimized torque and resulting shaft twisting provided by a center engagement of the distal end of the hosel or shaft to the head. Still further, such a putter should have a center of gravity that encourages the ball to roll forward rather than loft or backspin by yielding a large sweet spot for impact. Still further, such a shaft to head engagement should also provide increased transmission of the feel of the impact of the head with the ball to allow the user better distance and directional control of their follow-through after impact.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings nor the steps outlined in the specification. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways as those skilled in the art will readily ascertain from reading and being educated by this application. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention of a golf putter having a center engaged hosel extending from the center of gravity of the head to the shaft. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.